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We could take this story in a number of different directions, but the fact that more than 70 cars sold in the U.S. today are available with over 500 horsepower is being viewed as at least ironic.

The HybridCars.com dashboard currently lists around 30 hybrids sold in America, and while this number is increasing, another list has grown from just two 500-plus horsepower production cars available a decade ago when the Prius had scant competition, to more than double the number of today’s hybrids.

Those two in the 500 club a decade ago were the the Ferrari 575M and the Lamborghini Murcielago. Now, according a story making the rounds, the number of vehicles delivering 500 horsepower is busting at the seams, and in the last five years alone the tally doubled, suggesting an acceleration in the trend, not a subsiding.

It’s a free country, and our observing this trend is not to to be confused with a screed suggesting the good people of the planet ought to rise up and ban such things, though if you think so, you are entitled to your views. Nor are we unmindful of the fact that R&D money from some high flung projects can be funneled into other more economical projects. Nor do we mean to compare numbers of units sold, but are noting only the number of models developed and brought to market. We know furthermore that often times exotics are purchased as weekend playthings, and can actually represent an investment, as they can in cases increase in value.

No, as they say, we’re just sayin’, and you can parse the info which encompasses many more nuances in this macro economy than we can account for in this brief write-up. We are merely noting free-will choices, and where things are in today’s market.

So with that qualifier, shall we continue by stating the obvious? Petroleum is a finite resource, and even if a high-tech 500-horsepower car can sneak through a sedate drive cycle test and return OK numbers, unleashing enough power to keep the lights on in your neighborhood block still burns much more fuel, but this seems to be a small deterrent.

The $2.1 million Lamborghini Aventador J has no navigation or audio system, but for your pavement-blistering pleasure, and assurance of preferential treatment at all your favorite hangouts, the 3,500 pound speedster makes 700 horsepower from its 6.5-liter V12.

We’ve seen gasoline crest to over $5 per gallon in 2008, and again now in some regions, have heard all about concerns over emissions, and we know green cars are on the rise.

It would appear also in a land described by some as one increasingly of the haves over the have-nots, that 18 mostly upscale automakers are counting on supplying the wish list for those who have and want more.

And regardless where you stand on the societal equity question, more certain is technology and market demand has enabled automakers to deliver internal combustion vehicles that threaten to make the 60s “muscle car era” fade into memory. Now fast and sleek cars have suspension, brakes, aerodynamics, infotainment, luxury and more to match gobs of raw horsepower and torque.

This is where we find ourselves, even as the handwriting is on the wall from rising gas prices, and U.S. and European legislators mandating stringent standards for the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, BMW – and Chevrolet, Ford, Nissan, Toyota, and all others.

But as Cindy Lauper once sang, “Drivers just want to have fun,” or something like that, right?

And not wanting to disappoint, as automakers explore the limits of excess, they are simultaneously working on sensible, frugal, penny pinching cars. When they do that, they will naturally play up the environmentally sensitive side of their marketing, even as in other departments their engineers work on satiating the gods of speed and status, attempting to set lap records at the Nurburgring and upping the ante.

But with a variety of reality checks on the horizon, also underway are attempts to have it all – even including such virtuous attributes as polar-bear friendly low emissions, and high mpg when desired.

We’ve seen “green” electrifed Ferraris, Rolls-Royce EVs, and beyond those low-to-mid six-figure prototypes, Porsche is preparing such creations as the $845,000, 770-horsepower Porsche 918 Spyder (silver car pictured above). This brute will make many a ZR1 Vette owner green with envy, while returning efficiency even a Chevy Volt fan can admire – estimated 78 mpg in hybrid mode, or even 16 gasoline- and emissions-free miles at up to 94 mph on battery power alone.

This kind of experimentation is going on by the majors, but let’s not forget companies like Tesla, Fisker, and others who aspire to start from scratch with green luxury performance.

Cutting edge Ferraris are supposed to be red, aren’t they? Not if they are green like this 599 hybrid.

But what do you think? Coming back to the 500 club, can the internal combustion horsepower wars continue upward? Will mutually contradictory goals continue on side by side with initiatives by automakers doing what they can to sell what people of varying sensibilities diversely want?

For those mindful of phenomena such as energy security, global warming, and other such things, do you think we are cresting toward a last hurrah? Or will the turbocharged party go on well past midnight and the partiers can party no more – or till the proverbial cops come in and shut down the fun?

500-plus Horsepower cars on sale in the U.S.A

NOTE: This list counts to 63, but other vehicles are estimated to make the total in excess of 70. Also, our Dashboard lists 34 hybrids, but a few vehicles are disconnected, and other pending have yet to be added.

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Bob Wilson

So what?

Look if some silly people want to burn up fossil fuels faster … let them!

Those of us who only drive fuel efficient cars and vehicles really don’t care. Their excesses only hurt those who are foolish enough to believe the nonsense of those driving 500 HP vehicles.

So today I paid just over $40 for a tank of gas, a new high. Yet I’m relatively insulated from the cost of gas. I’m easily getting +50 MPH both highway and city … +80% of my mileage is city.

So let the gas hogs enjoy their excesses and drive the price of gas even higher. Let them go forth and show themselves to be . . . who they are.

The sooner gas prices reach ‘pain-full’ levels, the sooner the nonsense advocated by the gas-hogs will be exposed. Bring it on!

Bob Wilson

Andrew Hime

The sales of these models leave us with not much to worry about.

James Davis

I think the oil and gas suckers will stay at the party until they have sucked the cow dry, right down to the last drop, and then they will come over to the newcomers party and bust it, like GM did when they killed the electric car the first time and then come out with the Volt and try to deceive people into believe it is electric as they continue to suck on the tit of the oil companies.

500 HP is nothing for an electric motor to achieve and it will not choke you to death as it passes you on the highway.

JC

I want to reiterate the idea mentioned int the article that the VAST mojority of these cars are weekend toys. To that end, my neighbor with the Shelby GT500 probably uses less gasoline in a given week or month in that car than most Prius drivers, because the Prii are driven as daily drivers.

When a decently enjoyable electric car (that I can afford) is put on the market, I will drive that daily and still keep my absurdly fast gas guzzler for spirited weekend drives through the countryside, and STILL not use a whole lot more gas than any purely green driver. The high HP cars just don’t get used enough to contribute to the problems that are implied.

Furthermore, and please don’t take this as an attack on anyone, if you drive a Prius or similar car, and don’t have a “fun” car too, you probably have no idea what attracts driving enthusiasts to these cars. I have driven many hybrid, Volts, Leafs, etc, and they all feel “limp” and offer no driving enjoyment whatsoever for the enthusiast. oOy, actually, the Volt came closest of the bunch, but is still not much more than semi-sporty.